Wed, 06 Dec 2017, 12:44 PMRichie Crampton Named to Full-time Seat with Kalitta Motorsports for the 2018 NHRA Season

Courtesy of Cody Poor

YPSILANTI, Mich. --

Richie Crampton

Kalitta Motorsports is pleased to announce Richie Crampton will return to the team and run for the
2018 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel Championship in the Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster.

"It is an
absolute honor to get the opportunity to race for Connie Kalitta in 2018," said Crampton. "I cannot
thank Connie, Jim O and the entire Kalitta organization for giving me a shot this year and helping
to turn this into a full season in 2018. This is something I had always wanted, but never thought
was possible. It is pretty amazing to be a driver for Connie Kalitta and I am forever grateful."

Despite having less than 80 career starts, Crampton has accomplished much in his time behind the
wheel. The 2014 NHRA Auto Club Road to the Future honoree has seven wins including a U.S. Nationals
trophy. The native Australian's late season addition to Kalitta Motorsports as the driver of the
SealMaster Toyota Top Fuel Dragster was seamless as Crampton scored a final round appearance in
just his second race with the team in Charlotte. The Australian-born Crampton now resides in
Indianapolis with his wife, Stephanie, and daughter, Emma, with a son on the way in early 2018.

"We are really excited to have Richie full-time as part of Team Kalitta. I know Connie is very
excited to have Richie drive his car next season," said Jim Oberhofer, Vice President of
Operations, Kalitta Motorsports. "He did a great job coming into a tough situation this year and he
jumped right in. We are hoping that trend continues with this full-time opportunity. We cannot wait
to see what the 2018 season will hold for this team."

Crampton's Toyota Top Fuel dragster will be tuned by NHRA's only Lifetime Achievement honoree,
Connie Kalitta, and Rob Flynn. Despite starting four less races than the majority of the field, the
duo guided Shawn Langdon to a Countdown to the Championship spot and final round appearances in
Dallas and Pomona.

Crampton will run all 24 events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing schedule. Kalitta Motorsports
will announce sponsorship partnerships at a later date.